Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

If you have a good look around ebay its flooded with Epiphone Les Paul guitars, i`m a bit suspicious of why their are so many and why do certain sellers have no end of them ?

Would Epiphone supply direct to the public and in such large numbers ? I`m just a bit wary of having recieved one that had a poor finish in places which you wouldn`t expect from a brand new guitar especially from such a big company, also as an example some of the Les Paul Custom and Custom plus guitars go for at least £150 - £200 less than they would in a shop.

You would think if they were going to fake them then they would try and pass them off as Gibson`s but when £250 - £300 is involved and the quality of fakes you see around then you never know, i`m just suprised how many individuals on ebay are selling them in such large numbers in their ebay shops.

Its just that ive had a warning today from ebay about the seller ive bought my Les Paul from that he is under investigation, the warning is a bit late as ebay have let me part with £250 with him before alerting me, they knew i was in contact with him 2 days prior to parting with my cash as they alerted me that they were aware that i was in contact with this seller.

mrtheedge2u2

Simple..... they are a popular guitar.

Basically, people use ebay as they do not want to pay "shop prices".... only problem is that you do not have chance to view it up-front.

If you want to be assured then buy from a shop. Simple.

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

But would Epiphone supply to the public in such large numbers ? The majority of sellers on ebay that are selling these guitars won`t be VAT registered so how would that work plus you the warranty won`t be valid as your not buying from a recognised retailer.

I`m just curious where they are getting their stock from where it allows them to sell them for £150-£200 less than a retailer and still make a profit.

David Lock

Les Paul (Lester William Polsfuss) died last August which made his guitars a little bit more special. They are super guitars anyway.

As I, and others, have said you may be better off going to a shop, having a chat and getting what feels comfortable and with a sound you like. If you have a problem with it in 6 months tye shop will help. E=bay won't want to know.

Personally I woud suggest having a look at Fender Stratocasters, especially if they have any pre-owned American made ones. Most would be out of your budget - looked after mid-1950's originals can be $20k plus

dl

Timwinner

iTrader: (3)

DIdnt the Ephiphone factory change a little while back making them mass produced (even more than before, I mean production line type mass produced)?

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

From what i can gather they moved the Epiphone factory to China, but even still a large company doesn`t usually deal direct with the public in such large numbers because you have the VAT issue and also you have the warranty problem where Epiphone will only recognise your warranty if the guitar was bought from a reputable stockist.

Also ebay charge a 10% final value fee, i`m just suprised that these sellers can actually make a profit from them considering they are selling them for £150 - £200 cheaper than a shop then they have the fees to be taken off after.

scud8

iTrader: (1)

There is a lot of conterfeiting of guitars, so it's possible these aren't even genuine. If you hang out on the Ibanez Jem web-sites they are forever flagging ebay auctions selling counterfeit Jems. You may be able to check the Epiphone you bought - most manufacturers will happily verify a serial number if you send it to them (Ernie Ball will even tell you which dealer it was originally sold to).

Also, some of the big guitar manufacturers are bringing out cheaper versions of their guitars, and ebay sellers try to take advantage of this by catching buyers who are attracted by the big-name manufacturer but don't understand the different models. One example is Gibson who brought out a Signature version of the SG. A Gibson SG Standard will set you back a grand or more, but the SG Signatures sell for about £100 and are reputedly very poor quality.

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

Serial numbers would be very easy to fake, just go round a few musical shops armed with a small digi camera or even a phone camera and take a few discrete pics of the serial numbers which is usually on the back of the head on an Epiphone Les Paul. Do this in a few shops and you have a good range of serial numbers ready to put on a fake and they would come back as genuine as they are genuine serial numbers.

This is the Epiphone Les Paul serial checker, its very easy for it to come back as a genuine guitar if the serial numbers have been copied by other people.

http://www.guitardaterproject.org/epiphone.aspx

thesyn

Gibson own Epiphone, many Epiphone buyers bite the bullet and upgrade to a Gibson and hence unload the epiphone.

bigsinky

I would disagree at 5 -10x the price. I know what my gibson cost me and its a lot to bite the bullet.

Bubba po

True serial numbers would be under the lacquer, though. I doubt a faker of such a cheap guitar would go to the trouble of reproducing that.

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

Ive escalated a paypal claim against the seller, ive had the standard reply to say that i have to wait 30 days for the seller to respond and if he doesn`t respond in the 30 days then the claim will go in my favour. Seeing as he`s either deleted his account or he`s been banned by ebay i can`t see paypal getting a reply from him especially after ebay sent me a warning about this seller that he was under investigation even though the warning came 4 days after i had already bought from him

Bubba po

I would just accept the guitar. You seem to have got quite a bargain, I mean it's not as if you've paid a grand for it. You bought a budget guitar and it's unreasonable to expect the same degree of fit and finish as you would get on an expensive one. Also, it'll get marks on it from day one, so unless you're going to play it with a velvet suit on or stand it in a glass box in the corner, get your "tune-a-day book out and get stuck in .

mrtheedge2u2

Rob, as Bubba says, I would keep it if I was you.....

Ok, maybe the finish of the lacquer etc is not ideal.... but you still have a bargain.......

Maybe the seller gets some of the guitars that Epiphone class as "not meeting standards"... it is not fake, simply the finish is not what the manufacturer wanted.

I would keep it and enjoy it.

bigsinky

my purple crushed velvet suit has done me for years thank you

Bubba po

Defects and blemishes add to the character, anyway. Have a look at my 1983 strat:

GC8

"Rock 'n' Roll" moment?

Bubba po

Several - I was a bad-tempered bugger in them days.

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

I`m going to buy one brand new from Dawsons music who are a recognised Epiphone/Gibson retailer, we have a store within 10 mins of where i live. This way i will get full support if anything did go wrong and a full Epiphone warranty, its going to cost me £450 but i`ll have piece of mind that its genuine plus they are throwing in a free guitar bag and free amp lead.

The amp i`m buying is a Roland Cube 20X.

I spoke to Dawsons earlier, they said they had a fake Epiphone Les Paul in recently which a customer brought in for repair. The one i have here is going to them this week when i pick my other one up and they can tell me once and for all what it is, i still wouldn`t keep it if it turns out to be genuine as i wouldn`t expect to get manufacturing blemishes like this from a brand new guitar and they would bug me a bit, fair enough if it gets sratched later by me as thats probably inevitable.

With paypal ive got to wait 30 days before anything gets resolved one way or the other so thats a fair time to wait without a guitar, i know its going to cost me more this why but like i said i`ll have piece of mind in what ive bought plus the aftercare and warranty.

mrtheedge2u2

As Bubba posted his guitar I thought I would post my first, and probably favourite, guitar

Bubba po

Love the colour.

mrtheedge2u2

Limited Edition Sunburst Green

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

Nice guitar It would be hard work losing that

While i`m here, if i can pick up playing the guitar my long term aim is to try and play some U2 and Oasis riffs, a Fender Stratocaster has been recommended to me. What are your opinions on a Fender Stratocaster against an Epiphone Les Paul especially for someone trying to learn to play.

Does the 3rd pick up or the tremelo handle get in the way at all on this type of guitar ?

The style of this one took my eye, i like the colour, maybe you could recommend some other Fenders to consider. Its just i want to get my first guitar correct if i can to suit what i want to play.

Fender Highway One Stratocaster Black/Maple | Dawsons Music

Bubba po

Those two guitars typify two distinct styles of music. Les Pauls have a full, rich, solid sound which lends itself to heavy rock or other forms of music with solid, sustaining guitar - this character is mainly down to its humbucking (twin-coil) pickups which tend to be very powerful and capable of overdriving the amplifier easily. The strat has a very clear, sharp sound which, again, is down to its pickups - which are most often single-coil (though some models have a twin-coil pickup at the bridge to try to get the best of both worlds). The Edge has used both Stratocasters and, famously, the Gibson Explorer - a guitar which has pickups similar to the Les Paul. From memory, Oasis mostly use guitars with humbucking pickups, I think, but in the Gibson E335 semi-acoustic body style. There isn't a guitar that does everything, but back in the eighties when the Edge influenced MY playing, I found the single-coil sound of a Strat suited the early stuff better.

It's very subjective, because a clear, clean, sharp sound can be got from a Les Paul with the right amp; say a Vox AC30, for example. Conversely, Mr Hendrix got some of the dirtiest, most solid tones ever heard out of his Stratocaster. I personally think a Strat's more versatile, but you can't beat something like a Les Paul for classic rock sounds.

Someone mentioned Ibanez, earlier. They're great for modern rock music, do a lot of things really well and are excellent instruments to boot.

Bubba po

And if you want the King of guitars, try the Les Paul Killer - a Yamaha SG 1000/2000 from the late 70's/early 80's.

scud8

iTrader: (1)

My daughter has a similar Fender Strat and I find the three single pick-ups and the thin body result in a thin sound - great if you are Clapton or Gilmore but not IMHO well suited to heavier music. Every time I have played with my daughter's strat I have struggled to get a full sounding tone.

The guitar I started out with was a fat strat with a humbucker at the bridge and a single neck pick-up (Fender Stratocaster Tie Dye Electric Guitar (1 Review)) - the thicker basswood body and the bridge humbucker gives a heavier sound more suited to the kind of music I like to play. I then bought a fairly cheap Ibanez (an RG370DX IIRC) which has a similar basswood body with two humbuckers and a single pick-up, so again well suited to the heavy music I like. Since then I've moved upmarket to Jem's and EBMMs, but I still love playing the RG.

I know lots of hard core guitar players are quite sniffy about low-end Ibanez's, but they are versatile and IMHO a good starter guitar. You should be able to pick up an RG370DX for ~£300 from a reputable internet dealer, but would pay a bit more from a shop.

David Lock

Bubba - a nice commentary

Rob - you would be delighted with either. But it's much to do with the pick-ups and amplifier you use. I'll ask my boy for his thoughts as he knows his stuff and has a few different guitars, nothing expensive, which he selects for different types of music, mostly soft rock with a bit of Peter Green style blues. But his default guitar is a second hand American made Strat'.

The Strat was the definitive guitar when it all started back in the fifties. I think many are now made in Japan under licence but there is nothing wrong with that.

============

WARNING. My misses moaned that the washing machine had packed up this morning Guesss waht? A pck had jammed up the pump

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

Ive just been listening to some Fender Stratocaster Highway One guitars on youtube, as a total novice in this area is it fair to say that they sound like a 70`s type Eric Clapton sort of tone, thats how the tones seem to come across, i listened to a wide range of riffs and different styles.

The Epiphone Les Paul to me seems to have a wider range of tones and a bit more flexibilty, is that fair to say or do i have it wrong, i`m just going off what ive heard through youtube from both guitars.